Eri Hozumi and Makoto Ninomiya’s hopes of becoming the first all-Japanese pair to win a Grand Slam women’s doubles title were swamped by a barrage of big hitting from Czech pair Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova in Sunday’s French Open final.

The sixth seeds won 6-3, 6-3 in just 65 minutes against Hozumi and Ninomiya who had stunned top seeds and Australian Open champions Kristina Mladenovic and Timea Babos in the semi-finals.

For the Czechs, it was their first Slam title.

“I’d like to dedicate this victory to Jana Novotna,” said Krejcikova in honour of her compatriot and 1998 Wimbledon champion who died of cancer in November last year at the age of 49.

Siniakova paid tribute to the Japanese team.

“You had an amazing two weeks and we hope we can play many more times in the future,” she said.

On Saturday, French sixth seeds Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert won their third Grand Slam men’s doubles title on Saturday by seeing off Croatia’s Mate Pavic and Oliver Marach of Austria 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) in the French Open final.

Mahut and Herbert also claimed the titles at the US Open in 2015 and Wimbledon in 2016.

Japan also enjoyed two title victories at the French Open on Saturday.

World number one Yui Kamiji won her third Roland Garros women’s wheelchair championship with a 2-6, 6-0, 6-2 victory over Diede de Groot of the Netherlands. It was the sixth Slam singles title for the 24-year-old world number one.

Shingo Kunieda then claimed the men’s title, his seventh in Paris and 22nd overall at the majors. The 34-year-old defeated Argentine second seed Gustavo Fernandez 7-6 (7/5), 6-0.

With inputs from AFP